Senator Bernie Sanders criss-crossed Montana for a rapid-fire series of events over the weekend to boost Rob Quist, the folk-singing Democrat on the ticket for Thursday’s special election to replace now-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, for the state’s seat in the House of Representatives.

“Rob and I are going to do everything we can to bury that horrific, disgusting piece of legislation that passed two weeks ago,” Sanders bellowed, referring to the recent House passage of the American Health Care Act, during the duo’s final stop together in Bozeman on Sunday morning.

From Missoula to Butte to Billings and Bozeman, the primary rallying cry for this race was health care—and the skyrocketing costs for care that could result if AHCA is signed into law.

During the second-to-last stop of the tour in Butte on Saturday, a union stronghold that was formerly a copper boomtown throughout the end of the 19th century, some 2,500 or more poured into the Butte Civic Center in the late afternoon.

To the bane of Congressional Republicans, the Congressional Budget Office score on the GOP’s new health care bill will be released next Wednesday. On Thursday, the polls will close in Montana’s closely watched congressional race between Democrat Rob Quist and Republican Greg Gianforte.

Hoping to get a boost from the inevitable Democratic outrage over the health care news next week, Quist is releasing his last few political ads; with two of them focusing entirely on health care.

In his ad, “Half,” Quist addresses the pre-existing condition rates in his state. Serving as his own narrator over b-roll of a picnic with the stunning Montana skyline painted behind them, Quist says, “Did you know half of all Montanans have a pre-existing condition? One out of every two.” Quist goes on to tell the story of a few other people attending the picnic, including one woman who survived breast cancer, and a man who made it through a major back surgery. “One thing I can tell you,” Quist says, “we’re all thankful to be here.”

“Greg Gianforte says he’s thankful for the new healthcare bill,” he continues. “The one that eliminates protections for pre-existing conditions and raises premiums on every Montanan who has one. I think Greg’s thankful because he gets another big tax break at our expense.”

While President Barack Obama said his administration is willing to let “things play out” for a few more weeks when it comes to the escalating effort by Native American tribes to stop a pipeline in North Dakota, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) offered a distinctly more urgent response on Tuesday by saying “Damn right” the project should be stopped immediately.

Though Sanders has made his opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) known for months, he reiterated his opposition during a campaign rally on behalf of Hillary Clinton at Plymouth State University on Tuesday.

“Stop the Dakota pipeline!” someone yelled from the crowd during the speech, to which Sanders quickly responded: “Damn right.” He then added: “That is one of the issues, but there are many others.”

Sanders’ strong stance against DAPL—which has become a rallying point for native tribes and climate campaigners—is sharpening the contrast offered by other Democratic leaders—most notably Obama and Clinton.

Following escalating and violent tactics by police against pipeline opponents, who refer to themselves as “water protectors,” Obama told Now This News in a Tuesday interview that while there is an “obligation for authorities to show restraint” against those trying to block the construction, he was willing to let events “play out for several more weeks.”

“From the beginning of this campaign, Secretary Clinton has been clear that she thinks all voices should be heard and all views considered in federal infrastructure projects,” read a statement released by her campaign. “Now, all of the parties involved—including the federal government, the pipeline company and contractors, the state of North Dakota, and the tribes—need to find a path forward that serves the broadest public interest.”

In response, critics said characterized the response as a classic Clintonian “triangulation” and Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org, said it was a statement that “literally says nothing. Literally.”

Police in riot gear shot rubber bullets and used pepper spray on demonstrators — who call themselves water protectors — on the shoreline of the Cantapeta Creek, just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation here on Wednesday.

After a few relatively peaceful days at the campground where thousands have gathered to demonstrate against a controversial North Dakota oil pipeline, demonstrators put out calls on social media to “make your way to the river” for a “river action,” but to do so “in prayer.”

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Demonstrators on the shoreline prayed, played drums, sang, and waded into the river towards the base of the hill where armed police stood.

It was a “100 percent peaceful protest,” according to activist Erin Schrode, who was shot in the lower back with a rubber bullet while standing on the shoreline opposite police. Schrode had joined others from the camp in solidarity as they prayed on the shoreline.

A confrontation erupted after law enforcement dismantled a wooden bridge that demonstrators constructed to access the sacred site.